Can we stop scaring the shit out of mums already?

My husband came downstairs into the living room yesterday and I said to him, “We need to do a first aid course NOW.”

His response? “Yes, let’s just add that to the list.”

What list, you ask? The list-of-stuff-we-have-to-do-asap-so-our-kids-don’t-get-hurt. Yep, I guess I now have a list. Why?

Because this weekend just gone I inadvertently saw at least six stories about a baby or toddler being seriously injured or even dying because of a product, or something around the house. I wasn’t even trying to look at the news, I just stumbled across them.

And these stories are driving me (and my husband, obviously) insane.

The world is SO full of bad news about how a toddler hurt himself jumping off a table, or a baby who choked on a bit of popcorn, or a newborn who needed reviving by his mum.

Yes, these are all absolutely terrible events and I really feel for the parents and families they have affected. I literally can’t imagine what they must be going through. I am so sad for them. But can’t we sometimes just have a break from bad news about children?

We have enough to worry about already, without being scared all the time about what could happen to our child

I know it’s important for the news to report on these things. We need to all be aware of the dangers of things around our home and in the big bad world. And from time to time we do need reminding about what we can do to prevent these things from happening.

But, what’s with ALL the scare mongering? We already know the guidelines around these things. Correctly fitting child seats. Ensuring the cords on blinds are secured. Baby-proofing the house. Safe sleeping. Refreshing our first aid. I completely agree that we do need to be reminded. Of course we do. But come on, do we need to hear EVERY SINGLE BAD STORY there is?

Of course we know about the dangers of not fitting a child car seat properly

All this serves to do is just scare the shit out of us even more. We have enough to worry about and deal with on a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and daily basis. We are doing our bloody best to not only keep our children safe and healthy but also give them the best lives possible. We are working damn hard.

The media love to sensationalise. Anything that’s shocking, sad, or scary they will generally run with. And I think it’s getting worse these days, maybe because of the rise of social media and the fact that many of us (myself included) love to over share.

We’re all very open these days about our parenting journeys, which is fantastic for supporting one another through this crazy ride. But sometimes, this just goes a bit too far and only ends up creating more worry and panic, you know?

I’d love to see more positive stories in the media about parenthood, but sadly that’s not the stuff that sells.

I guess all we can do is edit our news feeds, or avoid them altogether, if we don’t want to see the bad stuff. And just keep reading up on the guidelines and doing the best we can for our kids.